Washing and scouring machine.



J. S. AINLEY.

WASHING AND SGOURING MACHINE" APPLICATION FILED MAR.14. 1914 PatentedD90. 22, 1914.

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WASHING AND SCOURING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 22, 19114.

Application filed March 14., 1914. Serial No. 824,837.

To all-whom it may concern: Be'it known that 1, JOHN SHAW AINLEY, asubject of King George V of Great Britain, residing at Huddersfield, inthe county of York, England, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Washing and Scouring Machines,.of which the following isa specification.

This invention relates to machines such as washing and scouringmachines, for treating with liquids, textile piece goods,

- warp yarns and the like, either secured together in endless rope formand passing through the machine in several drafts or in separate lengthsof fabric or yarn made endless and traveling through the machine inseparate drafts or widths in the ordinary manner, the object of myimprovements being to provide means for dealing with or operating on thefabric in its passage through the machine whereby superior results maybe obtained and the operation of the machine improved.

The essential feature of my improvements is, that the fabric or yarn, inaddition to being passed through nipping or squeezing rollers clear ofthe liquor or liquid in the vessel of the machine as ordinarily, is alsosubjected to a pressing or possing action in the liquid, whereby thewashing liquor or liquid is worked intimately into the fabric or yarnand is enabled to more rapidly effect the loosening or removal of thedirt. To efiect this I provide at the feeding or leading-in side of themachine, a suitable crushing member adapted to be operated tointermittently press against or crush the drafts of fabric or yarn,which are intermittently carried forward beneath the crushing member bysuitable means. After being subjected to this crushing or pressingaction, the drafts of fabric or yarn are delivered to the bottom of thevessel, and then conducted to the usual nipping or squeezing rollersclear of the liquid and back again beneath the crushing member toreceive a further crushing or pressing action, the cycle being repeatedas many times as may be found necessary. The crushing member may beoperated to give any desired number of squeezes or pressings for eachtraverse of the fabric or yarn through the machine.

If desired, instead of the fabric or yarn being conducted from thebottom of the vessel direct to the nipping or squeezing rollers clear ofthe liquid it may, before leaving the liquid, be passed between a pairof nipping or squeezing rollers submerged in the liquid, in which caseone of the said submerged nipping rollers is preferably driven by anendless apron or sheet from the driven roller of the usual nippingrollers clear of the liquid.

In the accompanying drawing :Figure 1 shows a sectional elevation of amachine embodying my improvements in one form; Figs. 2 and 3 are detailsshowing constructions of and means for operating the crushing memberwhich may be adopted in place of the arrangement shown in Fig. 1; Fig.4E illustrates a modified form of means for intermittently carrying thefabric or yarn beneath the crushing member, and Fig. 5 is a detailshowing a modification in the arrangement of the endless feeding apronand working of the pressing or crushing member in conjunction therewith.

In the drawing, 1 represents the vat or vessel of the machine and 2, 2,the ordinary nipping or squeezing rollers located above the vessel clearof the liquor or liquid therein.

In the embodiment shown at Fig. 1, I provide at the side of the machinewhere the fabric 3' ordinarily descends from the usual taking off roller4 t0 the bottom of the machine, an intermittently driven apron orendless sheet or tapes 5 extending around two rollers 6 and 7 suitablyarranged with respect to each other to support the apron or tapes 5 inthe desired position, the upper end of the apron being so disposed withre spect to the taking off roller 4: that the fabric as it descends fromthe said rollerwill fall on to the apron, and become more or'lesscuttled or folded, the liquor from the vessel 1 being pumped in anyordinary manner on to the fabric as it passes to the endless apron. At aconvenient distance apart and parallel or substantially parallel withthe apron 5 are two rollers 8 and 9 carrying a second shorter apron ortapes 10 which acts or act to flatten and partly squeeze the folds offabric, and following same and also on the same side of the apron 5 onwhich the fabric is cuttled or falls I provide a flap or plate or thelike 11 which is adapted to be intermittently moved toward the apron 5to press upon or squeeze or poss the portion of fabric lying beneath oropposite same, and to be moved away therefrom to permit of the pressedor possed portion of fabric being carried forward and a fresh portionpresented under the said flap or plate. The flap or plate, is, in theembodiment now being referred to, suitably pivoted at its upper end at12 so as to be capable of being swung to and fro to give the necessarypressing or possing action. The desired swinging movements may beimparted to the fiap or plate by any suitable means, as for instance bymeans of a link 13 pivotally connected at one end to the flap andpivotally mounted at its opposite end on a pin 14 eccentrically disposedon a disk 15, driven by chain wheel or pulley 16, chain or belt 17, anda chain wheel or pulley 18 fast on the axis of the bottom roller of thepair of nipping or squeezing rollers, which said roller is driven by apulley 19 and belt 20 from any convenient source of motion.

The desired intermittent movements may be imparted to the aprons ortapes 5 and 10 as follows :A ratchet wheel 21 fast on the axis of theroller 8 is adapted to be engaged by a pawl 22 carried by a pivotallymounted arm 23, the free end of which arm is connected to one end of aslidable bar or rod 2a. The opposite end of the bar or rod carries abowl or runner 25 adapted'to ride on the periphery of a cam 26 driven bychain wheel or pulley 27 and chain or belt 28 from a chain wheel orpulley fast on the axis of the driven roller of the pair of nippingrollers 2, 2. As the cam 26 is rotated, the arm 23 is swung to and fro,and the pawl 22 intermittently rotates the ratchet wheel 21 and roller8, and causes an intermittent traverse of the apron 10. A spring 29connected at one end to the bar or rod 24 and at its other end to asuitable fixed part of the machine acts to swing back the arm 23 andmaintain the bowl or runner in contact with the cam during the idleportion of the latters revolution. A gear fast on the axis of the roller8 meshes with a gear 30 fast on the axis of the roller 6, so that theintermittent movements of the said roller 8 are transmitted to theroller 6 and consequently to the apron 5.

The-position of the driving pin 14, from which the flap 11 is operated,is preferably adjustable on the disk 15 to permit of variations in theextent of movement of the said flap and the means for intermittentlymoving the aprons 5 and 10 are also preferably capable of adjustment asby altering the radial movement of the pawl 22 at each revolution of thecam 26.

The flap or plate 11 preferably extends across the whole width of themachine and its operating face may be either plain, or grooved or flutedlongitudinally to enable the liquid squeezed from the fabric to passaway. The upper end of the flap or plate is preferably upturned asshown, or rounded off to clear the traveling fabric.

A suitable bed 31 is provided beneath the portion of the apron 5opposite the apron 10 and flap or plate 11 to act as a support for thesaid apron 5 and prevent undue strain thereof.

After being carried forward clear of the flap or plate the fabric isdelivered to the bottom of the vessel and then conducted in any suitablemanner, as for instance over a roller 32, to the nipping or squeezingrollers 2, 2, from which it passes again over the taking-off roller 4and back again to the apron 5 to be again subjected to the action of thepossing or pressing flap or plate 11, this, being repeated as many timesas may be found necessary.

Instead of conducting the fabric straight from the bottom of the vesselto the nipping or squeezing rollers 2, 2, I may employ a second pair ofnipping rollers 33, wholly submerged in the liquid, and pass the fabricbetween them prior to its emerging from the liquid. Preferably one ofsaid rollers 33, 33 is driven by an endless apron 34: from the lowerroller 2, such apron 31 in imparting motion direct to the submergedsqueezing rollers insuring the fabric or yarn traveling from saidrollers to the upper squeezing rollers at a constant and uniform speedso that the fabric is neither put in tension nor slackened by anyirregularity in the speeds of the two sets of rollers. If the apron 3-lbe employed, the trough under the squeezing rollers 2, 2 is omitted.Alternatively the rollers 33,33,0r one of them, could be driven by arope, chain, or other drive external of the machine.

,The apron 10 with its supporting rollers may be replaced by a series ofloosely rotat ing rollers, or may be entirely dispensed with.

Instead of the crushing plate 11 being pivoted at its upper end andswung toward and away from the fabric as above set forth, it may becarried by the free ends of a pair of pivotally supported links or armssuch as 35, 35, Fig. 2, and be connected by a link 36 to a suitablyreciprocated member, or to. an eccentric driving pin such as ll.Movement of the link 36 in the direction of the arrow A, Fig. 2, causesthe plate 11 to move bodily away from the bed 31, and a movement in thereverse direction causes the plate to approach the bed, and crush orpress the portion of fabric presented opposite to it. In this instancethe plate 11 has rollers 37 to avoid rubbing of the fabric as the platemakes its inward movement, this taking place in an angular direction aswill be understood.

In the modification shown at Fig. 3, the crushing member comprises apair of rollers 38, 38, linked together at 39 and having, on their axes,runners 40 adapted to run on cam surfaces or inclined planes 4:1, sothat as the link 39 is pulled in the direction of the arrow B, therunners e0 ride up the cam surfaces or inclines and cause the rollers38, 38 to be moved away from the bed 31. The endless apron may be eitherintermittently or continuously traversed forward.

Instead of raising the roller pressing member away from the endlessapron as in Figs. 2 and 3, the bed 31 may be shortened and arranged outof line with the two rollers over which the apron 5 travels, as shown atFig. 5, the apron thus traveling at its upper end in a horizontaldirection to and then downwardly at an angle over the bed 81. Thepressing member in this instance is reciprocated only, so as to travelover a portion of the fabric on the inclined portion of the apron andthen away from;

and clear of the fabric, as illustrated by the dotted and full linepositions of the pressing roller, the result being the same as beforedescribed.

"""Uther forms of construction and modes of operation of the crushingmember may suggest themselves to those skilled in the art of machineconstruction, as for instance a mutilated roller or rollers engaging thefabric only when the longer radii are presentedopposite thereto, or arevolving cylinder carrying rollers, may comprise the pressing member,and instead of the roller pressing member being moved over the fabric oryarn in the direction of its length, it may be passed transverselythereto or across the fabric or yarn. I do not therefore limit myself tothe exact constructions and modes of operation shown and described, asthey are given by way of illustration.

Fig. 4 illustrates an alternative arrange ment for carrying the fabricforward beneath the flap or plate 11. In this instance the apron 5 isreplaced by a bed 42 supported in the desired angular position andprovided with a series of longitudinal grooves, in which a series ofbars such as 43 are adapted to be reciprocated intermittently by anysuitable means.

The upper edges of the bars 43 are normally flush with the bed 42 orslightly below same, and I preferably provide suitable means such asrocking bars 44, 44:, to engage the undersides of said bars 4:3 andraise them above the level or surface of the bed 4:2 during the time thebars are moving in a downward direction to carry the fabric forwardbeneath the'fiap or plate 11. I preferably arrange that during the timesthe bars 4-3 are in motion in either direction the flap or plate 11 isat rest in its position farthest away from the bed 42 so as to avoid anyfriction on the fabric. To this end I also arrange that the bars 43 whenmoving rearward position with their upper tion, entanglement or knottingof the fabric or yarn occurs.

By the means above described, I obtain a squeezing or crushing action ofthe fabric or yarn while in the liquor or liquid in the vessel, inaddition to the nipping or squeezing of the fabric or yarn when passingbetween the usual pair of squeezing rollers, such action beingsupplemented if desired by the second pair of nipping or squeezingrollers between which the fabric or yarn may be caused to pass beforefinally leaving the liquor orliquid, such action expediting the washingor scouring process and giving better results.

If the apron 5 is driven continuously and the pressing member isdisconnected the machine will answer very well for washing and scouringfabrics in the full Width.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is 1. The combination, with a support, andmeans for depositing the material loosely on the support; of drivingdevices which move the material step by step longitudinally, a pressingdevice, and means for pressing the material between the pressing deviceand the support when the material is stationary.

2. The combination, with a supporting conveyer, and means for depositingthe ma terial loosely on the conveyer; 'of driving devices for movingthe conveyer step by step, a pressing device, and means for press ingthe material between the pressing device and the conveyer when theconveyer is stationary.

3. The combination, with a main supporting conveyer apron, means fordepositing the material loosely on the said apron, and an auxiliaryconveyer apron arranged over the material and the receiving portion ofthe main conveyer apron; of driving devices for moving the conveyeraprons step bystep, a pressing device arranged over the move thematerial step by step longitudi- In testimony whereof I aflix' mysignature nally; a pivoted pressing plate arranged opin the presence oftwo Witnesses.

posite the material on the delivery portion JOHN S AINLFY of the saidsupport, and means for recipro- J eating the pressing plate so that themate- Witnesses: rial is pressed between 1t and the support THOMAS H.BARRON, When the material 1s stationary. ELsIE M. GLEDHILL- Copies ofthis trade-mark may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing theCommissioner of Patents,

Washington. D. C.

